Holy Fallen Tree Limbs, Batman!

WHOA.  That sums up my reaction this morning when I peered with bleary eyes out the bathroom window.

What is that, you ask?  Why, that was the limb of the tree I was photographing last night!  Actually, I was photographing UNDER that limb, more precisely.

Not one, but TWO limbs fell due to the weight of the snow, in fact, one right atop the other.  I'm guessing that the weight of the upper limb crashing into the lower limb did the lower limb in, however.  I'm so incredibly sad, because I loved the bushy "skirt" that lower branch in particular made.  I like to use the shaggy tree limbs as blinds when I try to take pictures of birds, also. 

These two photos were taken before the limbs' demises...So sad.  QQ.  I wish I could tape his poor limbs back on....but I don't think it would regrow.  Hubby was only able to move one of the enormous limbs, which were nearly as long as my car.  The other was too heavy to move.  I couldn't help, because my back and shoulders are already torn up and strained from shoveling.

My magnolia tree, Mikari, looks rather splendid in the snow!  The shots with longer exposure times turn out so dramatic!  As long as I don't wiggle...

These are all taken with the (un)"natural" street lamps casting an amber glow over the scenery.

The world is such an ethereal place at 3am.  I'm not certain what the blue glow is, but it's either the moonlight or someone's house illuminating the road down there.

This shot of a car driving up the road reminds me of one of my favourite Moonspell songs, Nocturna.  We live right on the crest of a hill before it grades downwards towards the lake.  It was really amusing to see people with their summer tires on in December trying to get enough traction to make it up this hill.  There was one guy in a Corvette with drag racing wheels on.  He was basically moving at six inches a minute all the way up - it was ridiculous.

I don't know what kind of tree this is, but this is Cicada Cottage :)  This is where the most cicadas seem to emerge from during summer.  It's an enormous, beautiful tree, too.

You know how I said we were going to get a lot of snow, right?  Well....this is a snowshot from this morning!  If you're wondering how I got most of these shots, it's because I was also using an umbrella to shield my lense and camera from the flying snow.  I had my tripod, but my nightvision is awful, so please bear with my blurry shots...I can't always tell when I'm in focus when it's dark out.  It's a different world at night...so beautiful.

I keep these cute little lantern lights out pretty much all year...the only problem I have is that you have to turn the inside foyer light on for one side and the street lamp light on for the other side.  They're on separate circuits, so it's kind of annoying.

I was also pissed off, because yesterday, someone (probably the snowplow) hit our mailbox post and knocked out mailbox partially off of it.  Well, this morning, when I peeked out of the window, i also noticed our mailbox had become completely detached from the post and was sinking into the snow.  We didn't get any mail today, so I'm not certain if it's because we didn't have any mail, or if it was because our maillady is holding it for us due to our lack of mailbox.

Arrrrrrrrrr............!!!!!!  And yes, that is a monkey riding a rocketship on our mailbox... :)